In 2023, the WiLS Ideas to Action Fund awarded a grant to Hartland Public Library to develop a project that promotes the Ice Age Trail and the library’s evolving role as a community center that supports everyone and all kinds of activities that promote physical and mental health. Here is the mid-point report from the library on the project’s progress:
Over the past few years, the Hartland Public Library has been dwelling on two new ideas: what new items we can offer to our patrons besides physical media and materials, and what new kinds of opportunities might exist to serve patrons outside the physical walls of our building. A lot of this was spurred by the onset of the pandemic in 2020, as it forced us to consider how the library could still ‘stay open’ or provide services to our patrons outside of our normal operating hours.
While thinking about these new ideas, we realized we should take advantage of the fact that we are fortunate enough to have our building directly along the Ice Age Trail, the famous state trail that’s over 1000 miles long and is used by 2.3 million people statewide each year. Since the pandemic has subsided, many patrons are becoming more active than before and want to get outside. Being right next to the Ice Age Trail naturally encourages physical activity directly around the library’s vicinity, and we realized we could encourage further use of the Ice Age Trail by tying a library activity or equipment to the Trail to enhance patrons’ lives. Hartland is one of only 17 municipalities in the state that are labeled as “Ice Age Trail Communities,” which means that the municipality actively promotes and invests in the Trail. While the Trail does get a lot of thru-hikers and walkers, we’ve noticed a distinct uptick in the number of patrons who bike into the library on the Trail, people visiting from other cities/towns/villages who bike in on the Trail, and the general usage of bikes on the trail by local citizens as the pandemic has wound down and physical activity has gone back up.
With these ideas in mind, we decided to focus on a few things for our 2023 Ideas to Action Grant:
- Purchase and install a bike repair and service station directly on library grounds next to the Ice Age Trail. (There is not another free bike repair and service station within a thirty mile radius of the library, so we are hoping this will attract a lot of bikers, both casual and more dedicated.)
- Purchase a foldable/collapsible bike for our Library of Things that can be checked out by patrons for personal use at any time.
- Replace the rusted bike rack that sat outside our main entrance.
- Hold a Bike Rodeo event with the Village of Hartland Fire, Police, and Parks & Recreation departments to teach kids about bike safety.
So far, we are on track to complete all four goals. However, one of the biggest challenges has been waiting for the ground to become dry enough to install the bike repair and service station, mainly due to how our DPW (Department of Public Works) crew will need to dig out a hole in the ground and pour concrete to allow placement the bike repair and service station. At first, they thought the station would not be able to be installed until late April or May due to how the ground normally freezes in Wisconsin for the winter. However, with our mild winter, the ground never properly froze, which meant that there were better conditions for installation purposes. But, with the rain and snow we did get, the ground is still ‘too wet’ to install the bike station, so we are hoping to work with the DPW crew to get that installed by mid-May at the latest.
On a more successful note, our DPW crew removed the old, rusting bike rack that used to sit next to our front entrance and made a completely new one using material acquired from a local metal contractor. They will paint it to match our logo colors, and it will go outside at the same time as the bike station installation.
One thing that did change between now and when we received the grant was the number of foldable bikes that we ended up buying. Originally, we were going to go with a bike made by Brompton Bicycle USA, which Consumer Reports listed as the most reliable foldable bike. However, when we contacted Brompton to purchase the specific model that we were requesting, we were told it would take several months to receive the bike, and it could then take even longer depending on their supply chains. So, instead, we did more research through Consumer Reports and ended up buying four foldable bikes made by Schwinn, another leader in the bike industry. What could’ve been a source of major disappointment and delay ended up working out well in the end, as we were able to purchase many more bikes than we originally anticipated. One of our cataloging librarians is now putting the finishing touches on cataloging the four foldable bikes, and they will be considered part of our ‘Library of Things’ collection, meaning patrons can check them out. We also added a helmet (that we disinfect after each use) and air pump to the bags that patrons will check out with the bike, so it’s a whole biking-in-one kit in a way.
The next big thing to complete this project will be holding the Bike Rodeo here in Hartland with the other major Village departments (Police, Fire, and Parks & Recreation). At the event, we plan on advertising the new bike repair and service station and our foldable bikes, give away sixteen helmets purchased using the grant funds to promote bike safety to young kids, and allow youth participants to participate in biking activities, such as a bike ‘obstacle course’ and braking practice routes. The major focus of this event is to promote bike safety, and we are excited to be able to get out into the community and hold an eventwith other departments from our Village that will also help advertise the new biking changes we’ve made here at the library.
As we look to the future, we are also excited about the relationship that will be strengthened between us and the Ice Age Trail Alliance once this project is fully complete. We plan on booking a speaker that will present a program all about biking on the Ice Age Trail later this year in conjunction with the installation of the bike repair and service station, and we will work in coordination with the Alliance for unique marketing opportunities that can be cross-posted on both of our social media channels.